In the last home fixture before Christmas, Atalanta host Salernitana at the Gewiss Stadium: for the late game of MD16 of the Serie A, the Nerazzurri will don a Xmas-themed kit.
Which Atalantino did not feature on the scoreboard in Atalanta’s 8-2 win over Salernitana?
Off to a great start, the Nerazzurri took the lead in the opening: Boga‘s push on 5 minutes was rewarded with the goal as his shot suffered a key deflection to beat Ochoa. Salernitana’s response was not long in coming, though: Boulaye Dia found an early equaliser on 10 minutes. From then on, though, Atalanta simply opened the floodgates: first its was Lookman to bring Atalanta back upfront from the spot 20 minutes into the game, followed by Scalvini‘s header just three minutes later; on 38 minutes Ochoa’s parry on Koopmeiners‘ attempt from the penalty spot was to no avail as the Dutchman tapped the ball in on the rebound. Lastly, Højlund‘s absolute solo on 41 minutes closed the first half on a 5-1 lead. There was no lack of goal in the second half either: after Lookman made it six and Nicolussi Caviglia pulled one back the infamous “ex’s law” made its entry, as Éderson and Zortea sealed the 8-2 walkover.
Was it Atalanta’s one and only 8 goal-haul during Gasperini’s tenure?
While never before had the Nerazzurri scored 8 goals in a single Serie A game prior to last season’s Atalanta v Salernitana; it was not the Nerazzurri’s one and only 8-goals haul during Gasperini’s tenure either: it last happened in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round on the 2nd of August 2018. Playing away to FK Sarajevo, Atalanta needed a win after the home 2-2 draw in the previous leg. The Nerazzurri hit the pitch with an insatiable drive, as the three goals in less than 20 minutes showed: first it was Palomino in the 4th minute, followed by Gomez and Masiello on, respectively, minutes 14 and 18. After El Papu found his brace on 28 minutes Ahmetović made it 0-5 with an own goal. In the second half, Musa Barrow really brought on the storm, though: walking away with the match ball as his hat-trick closed the night on the highest note and 0-8 on the scoreboard.
Who found his scoring debut against Salernitana?
Before landing in Bergamo in the summer of 2022, our back-to-back Player of the Month winner Éderson joined Salernitana in the winter transfer window of the same year, playing a key contribution in securing the safety of the Campanian team at the end of the season: fate has it that he would score one of his two goal as a Granata against no other than Atalanta. As another twist of fate, the Carioca midfielder found his scoring debut as a Nerazzurro against his former team. Nadir Zortea was the other mystery player to have scored his first Atalanta goal against Salernitana and, just like Éderson, it was another ex’s goal: oddly enough, his second net as an Atalantino, which occurred in this season’s MD1 against Sassuolo, was also an ex’s goal.
